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| This postcard from 1912 depicts the bachelor's anxiety of Leap day. |
While leap day helps re-adjust the calendar, itās also the day when women can romantically pursue men. The tradition goes all the way back to 5th century Ireland when St. Bridget complained to St. Patrick about the fair sex having to wait for too long for men to propose. In the 13th century, Queen Margaret of Scotland reinforced the tradition, declaring it the day when women had the right to propose to any man she fancied. In the United States, February 29 is known as Sadie Hawkins Day. In Al Cappās Lāil Abner cartoon strip, it was the only chance for Sadie ā āthe homeliest gal in the hillsā ā to snag a husband.
Here at Dalnews, leap dayās history provides us with a loose thematic connection to catch up with a story left over from Valentineās: the first annual Valentineās Jotted and Judged Sonnet competition. Students were challenged by the Department of English and Dalhousie English Society to write love poems in 14 lines.
But not all the entries turned out to be lovely-dovey. First-prize winner Peter Chiykowski went āpost-apocalypticā on Shakespeareās Sonnet 18, āShall I compare thee to a summerās day.ā
Here are the winning entries:
Untitled
Shall I compare thee to worldās ending?
An uncertain quiver that shakes the core,
That ushers with its furious rending,
A promise of silence and nothing more.
Promise me a world of cracking concrete,
Of empty cities and of soiled skies,
Where we strolling down the purposeless streets,
Speak of the ashes in our hair and eyes.
I wish to creep across your grey-clad heart,
Like the ivy across the tumbled stones,
And in a dying world not worlds apart,
We will go walking through the cityās bones.
Ā Ā Ā Ā Through the greenest seasons fool loversā heads,
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā In a wasted world we shall make our beds.
Peter Chiykowski is a second-year student from Richmond Hill, Ont.
Rendezvous
A shadowed, curtained, glowing, hidden place ā
Flushed skin to skin, forbidden tangled lust.
A violent kind of tryst arranged in haste:
āWe canāt, we canāt.ā āWe will, we will, we must.ā
A day ā one hundred loverās years ā apart,
Since from that last embrace themselves they wrenched,
Still hunger swells their separated hearts,
Desire for goblinās fruits not easāly quenched.
Once more, once more; a promised curtain call
To end at last their secret treachery,
But rising action doesnāt always fall ā
The pinnacleās the finest place to be.
And so the lovers linger at the peak,
And hunger trumps betrayal if thrill you seek.
Amy Dempsey is a fourth-year honours student majoring in English.
Lady Rye
My lady is a piquant broad, endowed
With alluring amber shades that mask her
Subtley arrant ways; for though Iām master,
She the mistress, my nee leads me to bow
In awe of artifice that cheats the proud,
Caught by her warm kiss, possessed by the lure
Of greatness and wisdom that may endure
Beyond plagues and kingdoms and deathās cold shroud.
And I, I am one of that cuckold crowd ā
I draw my art from what her heat infers,
Her taste transmuting my passions to word,
Stinging my tongue that I roar song aloud.
Ā Ā Ā Ā Though I am master, I cannot deny
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā I take my lessons from fair Lady Rye.
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| See now Iāve cracked wise to you, Miss Scarlet ... |
Julia Clahane is a fourth-year arts student at pilipiliĀž».
Bored Games
I know you cheated in that Scrabble match.
Thinking of it now, Iām filled with pity.
I had both Fs, the limit of the batch,
Yet somehow you laid I-N-F-I-D-E-L-I-T-Y.
That first chess game, early in our wooing,
It seemed weād mated fair ānā square and right.
I now question what your queen was doing
Sneakily creeping āround that other knight.
See now Iāve cracked wise to you, Miss Scarlet.
The dice was rolled, and snake eyes came to rest.
Parker Brothers preach fair play, you harlot
And frown upon your community chest.
I understand that keeping score is moot;
That has become a trivial pursuit
Mitchell Cushman is a fourth-year student majoring in English and theatre.
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